Poverty and the American Family: A Decade in Review

Edin, Kathryn; Kissane, Rebecca Joyce

doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00713.x

Cited by 113 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 136 publications

(154 reference statements)

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“…Beyond these examples, an extensive and deep literature concentrates on the individual risks of poverty (Cellini et al 2008;Dahl 2010;DiPrete 2002;Edin and Kissane 2010;Kohler et al 2012; McKeever and Wolfinger 2009;McLanahan 2004;Meyer and Wallace 2009;Ross et al 1987 from moral, cultural, or biological inadequacies -has dominated discussions of poverty for well over two hundred years and given us the enduring idea of the undeserving poor." Despite these occasional critiques however, there continues to be a great deal of scholarship on, discussion of, and interest in the risks of poverty.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the Risks of Poverty: A Framework for Analyzing Prevalences and Penalties

Brady

Finnigan

Hübgen

2017

American Journal of Sociology

142

183

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may RETHINKING THE RISKS OF POVERTY: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING PREVALENCES AND PENALTIES ABSTRACTConsiderable attention focuses on the risks of poverty, defined as individual-level labor market and family characteristics more common among the poor than the non-poor. This article first develops a framework for analyzing the risks of poverty in terms of prevalences (share of the population with a risk) and penalties (increased probability of poverty associated with a risk).Comparing the four major risks (low education, single motherhood, young headship, and unemployment) across 29 rich democracies, we show there is greater variation in penalties than prevalences. Second, we apply this framework to the U.S. We show that prevalences cannot explain high U.S. poverty as the U.S. has below average prevalences. Rather, the U.S. has high poverty partly because it has the highest penalties. U.S. poverty would decline more with crossnational median penalties than cross-national median prevalences, and U.S. poverty in 2013 would actually be worse with prevalences from 1970 or 1980. Third, we analyze cross-national variation in prevalences and penalties. We find very little evidence that higher penalties discourage prevalences, or that lower penalties encourage prevalences. We also show welfare generosity significantly moderates the penalties for unemployment and low education. We conclude with three broader implications. First, a focus on risks is unlikely to provide a convincing explanation or effective strategy for poverty. Second, despite being the subject of the most research, single motherhood may be the least important of the risks. Third, for general explanations of poverty, studies based solely on the U.S. are constrained by potentially large sample selection biases. 3A prevailing and enduring feature of American poverty research has been a focus on risks. For a long time, scholars have stressed the individual-level family and labor market characteristics that are more common among the poor than the non-poor (O'Connor 2001). Recently, Sawhill (2014: 14) claims, "The ideal would be education, work, marriage, children -in that order. The achievement of these benchmarks will, in almost all cases, ensure that any children a couple decides to have are not born into poverty." Earlier in 2003, Sawhill wrote, "Those who graduate from high school, wait until marriage to have children, limit the size of their families, and work f...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the Risks of Poverty: A Framework for Analyzing Prevalences and Penalties

Brady

Finnigan

Hübgen

2017

American Journal of Sociology

142

183

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“…Poverty research in the United States has concluded that changes in employment status and earnings are more likely to lead to exits from poverty than changes in household structure and composition (Blank, 1997;Christopher, 2005;Lichter & Crowley, 2004;Lieb & Thistle, 2006;McKernan & Ratcliffe, 2005). Although changes in relationship status and the birth of children play a role in triggering entries into poverty, a recent review of the poverty literature's main findings concluded that changes in employment are more important in determining poverty status (Edin & Kissane, 2010). Moreover, in an intensive study of the culture and ideology of welfare offices, Hays (2003) noted that welfare caseworkers also tended to advocate work as a better strategy than marriage for escaping welfare and even expressed overt bias against encouraging women to rely on men's help.…”

Section: Routes Out Of Poverty Employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, research on poverty has found that both household composition and changes in employment status and earnings are important for predicting poverty entries and exits, suggesting an interactive or cumulative effect of marriage and employment (Cancian & Danziger, 2009;Cellini et al, 2008;Edin & Kissane, 2010). At the same time, scholars have also argued that neither marriage nor employment offers a reliable escape from poverty for poor single mothers (Cancian, Haveman, Meyer, & Wolfe, 2002;Hays, 2003).…”

Section: Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

To Wed or to Work? Assessing Work and Marriage as Routes Out of Poverty

Running

Roth

2013

Journal of Poverty

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Employment and marriage are the two primary strategies touted by the government to address the feminization of poverty. Using longitudinal data for 1992 to 2001 from the Survey of Program Dynamics and multilevel models for change, this article analyzes the relative success rates of each of these strategies, as well as racial-ethnic differences in the effects of each on women's household incomes among women at high risk of poverty. Results suggest that marriage and employment improve mothers' household income, but that racial-ethnic differences persist. The authors also find that part-time work does not improve household economic well-being.

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“…In the US, several states have taken the initiative and added programs to provide partial lost income coverage for new parents under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Furthermore, child care subsidy programs in the US have proven to be a successful at reducing poverty and increasing work force participation (Edin and Kissane 2010).…”

Section: Implications and Recommendations For Policy Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Who Cares for the Children?” Lessons from a Global Perspective of Child Care Policy

Lokteff

Piercy

2011

J Child Fam Stud

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We present the argument that the meaning of child care and the policies that address it are explicitly linked with national ideologies, work force participation, economic success, and child outcomes. The relationship between family and child care policies is cyclical in nature, with a nation's ideology and vision of family often driving child care policies, while child care policies in turn drive and support a nation's ideology. We examine the interrelatedness of child care policy and national ideologies of family in selected industrialized countries. Specifically, this paper first defines child care policy and discusses the national ideological frameworks that provide the impetus for child care policy formation and implementation. Second, the paper explores current child care policies and their connection to the historical and political context of several countries within, including France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Belgium, the Nordic countries, and the United States. Lastly, recommendations are offered for the future of child care policy development with specific recommendations for child care policy development in the United States.

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Poverty and the American Family: A Decade in Review

Cited by 113 publications

References 136 publications

Rethinking the Risks of Poverty: A Framework for Analyzing Prevalences and Penalties

Rethinking the Risks of Poverty: A Framework for Analyzing Prevalences and Penalties

To Wed or to Work? Assessing Work and Marriage as Routes Out of Poverty

“Who Cares for the Children?” Lessons from a Global Perspective of Child Care Policy

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